Beer: Reviews & Ratings

Although I have had a couple of good beers from Epic Ales that were drinkable. Cinco Plantas was not. It was dominated by a sour, ester, and band aid flavor. I would guess that fermentation temperatures were too high and that the fermenter may have been contaminated.

I will usually finish a beer, even if it is bad. This beer I had to dump.

I respect Epic Ales direction of trying new things and brewing with Sake yeast. But this beer was not drinkable. (457 characters)

A - Pours a nice semi-clear yellow/orange with a white head. S - Oh god. Burnt rubber and melting plastic. T - Slight citrus notes with an overwhelming rubbery plastic finish. A little bit of nail polish remover in the aftertaste. M - I can't really drink enough to get a good take on the mouthfeel. O - Wow. Terrible is the first thing that comes to mind. I'm sure behind the rubber and plastic there is some semblance of a beer, but I can't get past a few sips to find out. Avoid this like the plague. (558 characters)

I purchased a 22 oz. of Cinco Plantas, pouring it into a 10 oz tasting glass at home. The bottle says that Cinco Plantas is brewed with epazote, which is a central American herb with anise-like qualities.

Color: The beer was deep golden color, opaque, with moderate head retention.

Smell & Flavor: There was an overwhelming ester smell and taste to the beer. This manifested as an awkwardly sweet, mildly banana-like odor, that typically indicates that the beer was fermented at too high of a temperature (or, sometimes, insufficient aeration). I believe the brewer may have done this intentionally to balance the sourness of the epazote, but for me, it did not work. I could not escape the esters, and I did not notice much complexity from the epazote. (Was the epazote added to the boil too early?)

Mouthfeel: OK.

Overall, I could not drink the beer. The fermentation was just flawed. Though I do highly support Epic Ales in their exploration of new styles and flavors, and I hope their future brews are more successful. (1,026 characters)

D - A very unique flavor, spicy but not in a "cayenne hot" kind of way. It's a great sipping beer, but not very sessionable. Worth a try because you'll be hard-pressed to find a flavor profile like this anywhere else. (913 characters)